RailTrailsRoadTrip – Tag Null

Well, I’m not quite sure if I should call it “Day Zero”, as it is about the preparations and comprises quite a few days. But as I’m not exactly sure what happened on which day, and if I could, it would split up this period into way too many one-or-two-sentence blog posts, I decided to summarize all this under the heading “Day Zero”.

Let’s start with the planning: for our longer holidays this year we had decided for once not to travel to Germany [the first time since my relocation to the US that I haven’t been to Germany at least once a year] but to fulfill one of our long-nourished dreams and hit the road for some other states of the US, on the one hand to do some “normal” sightseeing, and on the other hand to bicycle on rail trails [former railway corridors that have been turned into bicycle paths] so as to add a few more states to our list of states in which we have bicycled at least 10 miles. It is Mary’s goal to bicycle at least 10 miles in each of the Lower 48. After quite a bit of checking sights, trails and distances we finally ended up with the following states we wanted to visit: Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, Illinois, Kansas, Iowa, and Nebraska. The planned stops were: Poteau/OK, Hot Springs/AR, Collinsville/IL, Hermann/MO, Independence/MO, Beatrice/NE, and Oklahoma City/OK. As our way of vacationing means not to rush from one place to the next, and as we wanted to do at least one bicycle trail in each of the places we planned to stay at, that would take us 18 days, and cover at least 2,500 miles [a very rough estimate via Google Maps]. We had planned to stay and did stay in Poteau/OK, Hot Springs/AR, Collinsville/IL, Hermann/MO, Independence/MO, Beatrice/NE, and Oklahoma City/OK. We did the fine-tuning of our route with the help of “real”, that is printed maps, avoiding Interstates and choosing scenic routes wherever possible. This, plus some getting lost and the local travelling, in the end made for a total of 3.204 miles.

75 responses to “RailTrailsRoadTrip – Day Zero”

As to the route: of course we didn’t really know what to expect, but it turned out to be a good one. Not too much traffic, and quite frequently wonderfully scenic.
As to further reports: I had p[lanned on one per day, but am not sure if I can do that. They do take a lot of time to prepare.

Yep, it was quite some trip! We thoroughly enjoyed it. This time Colorado was not on our itinerary, as both of us have way more than 10 miles in the Centennial State. But we’ll certainly be there again, possibly next year, as Mary’s sister lives in Denver. We know about the fantastic bike trails there. And about the “fantastic” ascents! 😉 Well, as Mary’s cousin also has a home in Buena Vista, I could get some altitude training out of that. 😉 Let’s see how things will progress.
Btw, we are back home by now. I didn’t post while we were on the trip. I just tweeted then.

Sure, if you want to travel with your animal companions, you need an RV. We had our housekeeper come by every day and take care of our 5 kitties. We’d be reluctant to take them with us in an RV because we’d be afraid they might escape. With just one cat (and two dogs) we’d probably risk it. In fact, before we moved here, we had been thinking if we should by a big RV instead of the house here. But at that time, with (still) seven kitties and two dogs, we decided against it. We didn’t want to become a travelling zoo. 😉

Well, we’d have been afraid the kitties might disappear, and also having their waste in the RV, even if we’d clean the poop boxes frequently, might have been somewhat smelly. 😉 Plus: the kitties do tend to rip things up.

I’ll try to post as soon as possible, but it’ll take a while since there’s much to write.
So you have a silver-grey Escape, too. We’d have preferred a different colour [Mary green, I red], but as it was bought used, there was no choice. What was important was the V-6 engine with the capacity to tow 3500 lbs and a trailer hitch.

I would actually like a hitch for a grill or something similar, like bikes. The next car will be larger and better suited for one. Plus, at 175,000 miles or so, I don’t think this is probably the car to start investing in parts and pieces!

That’s a lot of driving! I did just under 2000 miles on my recent trip, but I must admit driving in the US is a lot more attractive. Our roads are soooo busy! I will check in to see how the trip proceeded – hope there are lots of photos 🙂
And I know exactly what you mean about the time it takes to prepare a post – I have loads to write about from my trip and then I went to Barcelona, so even more things to post! Oh, well I have all winter to do them as I won’t be going very far.

Sure, it was a lot, but then, the distances in the US are huge. I’m still, even after so many years, trying to get used to them. Driving here, though, is really easy, as you say, and even relaxing, compared to driving in my native country, Germany. And in the UK, too. I agree roads can be busy there. I still remember the London Ring Road in early morning rush hour, with rain coming down, and me pulling a trailer with a boat on it. But I also remember the quiet country roads in the Lake District and in the Scottish Highlands.
But then, the big cities here have their own rush hour trafiic. We tried to avoid going through them, an generally preferred the back roads.

It’s quite a while that I’ve been there. Lately, my wife has flown there alone to visit with her children. But I still remember a great toad trip there and back in the summer of 2004.
Have a safe trip home,
Pit

I love to read how people prepare for a journey, Pitt. I love how you cover Mary’s goals to bicycle 10 miles in each state, and how you use printed maps and try to choose scenic routes. Also, of course you must get your car readied for such a trip. I know you wrote this in 2016, but I would love to link it to my upcoming “preparation and anticipation” post about the Four Corners which will post on Friday, April 27. If you don’t mind, could I go ahead and link it?

I’m glad you like what I wrote, andthe way we prepare for our trips. Btw, Mary usually is the one who really chooses the scenic routes. She plans every next day on the evening before.
You’re most welcome to link to this post – or any other, come to that.